Library Micro News

First Things First

I don’t know how it happened or why, but in our coverage of ALA, both in the guide to the exhibits and the show review, we failed to mention the producers fo the best catalog card stock around. University Products (PO Box 101, Canal St, Holyoke MA 10041) went uncovered in both issues. Without good stock you’re as well off as a PCJr with a new keyboard. This is the place for the best.

            While We’re Digging

The hotshots always talk about blue’s dominance in the marketplace and I, seemingly alone in my little cornfield hideaway dispute that fact. Boys and girls, moms and dads, and those of you who aren’t sure let me drop a little quote on you (actually is was a very nice graph) from Computer Retail News (Aug 12 85) in which they quote InfoCorp (the leading analyst for this sort of stuff) which states:

     Apple had a 43 market share compared to IBM’s 25 in June for market shares out the door. When we take the machine breakdown Mac Led them all with 16%, followed by ][e with 15% and the ][c with 12%. Not til then do we get down to the blue with XT at 10%, PC with 9%, and the At with 5%. All of you getting hyped by the ex-mainframe junkies  to put a blue in your library because it is “the standard” take notice.

     Before you buy anything decide what you are going to use it for, what software will do the task, and what machine that software runs on. I’d hate to see a public library with an AT for “Public access” just cause it’s “the library standard” in some old mainframe junkies eye.

            RUMORS

     Lately the grapevine is alive with all sorts of stuff. Temper the following words by remembering that last January I bet the ranch on a new ][ machine with 3 ½” drives but sometime in September I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t see….. a two megabyte MAC  perhaps with a twenty megabyte drive built in… an Apple issue megabyte card for the ][ family.  …the long awaited mouse-based version of Appleworks for the ][… and a Microsoft version of Appleworks for the Mac which I understand will be called “Microsoft Works”. Get your Pencils and Scorecards ready and we’ll take role when the announcements are made.

            New Software

Grolier’s Americana Line

     The folks in CT (aka Grolier for those of you who don’t read heads) have followed up their extremely good New Book of Knowledge Software with a line for the Americana. As with the previous edition there are five titles: four of them extremely strong and one so-so with a mix of tools and games.

     Topic Finder and Research Planner, the weak sister (or brother if you care for non-sexist) in actuality is two different ecercises on the same disk. You start with Topic Finder, which is a canned, reverse order pathways tool. Once the subject has been narrowed, you flip the disk to Research Planner which takes the focus and asks you to deepen it by identify key words. With the done RP  displays a list of reference tools which you can print out (or copy from the screen. You  can keep coming back and switching sources, and the major shortcoming is the fact there is no editor to put local resources in – or just as severaly take resources listed by the program out so you don’t confuse the rugrats. It gets good marks though as a tool to show the relational nature of an  encyclopedia and finding information.

     Next we have two games: Hospital and Farewell Alaska.  In my bible of lisci review I called them micro based soap operas, and in general you pick a role, answer questions from the encyclopedias (and they’re tough too) and from time to time add a few lines of dialog yourself. This is a RAM only operation, doesn’t save the user contributions to disk, and is not “truly interactive” (as a text adventure would be) by altering the plot with your comments. You can print them off, it does put kids and encyclopedias together, and of course the bottom line is they are fun. Four Stars here.

     The two tools, however are outstanding. NOTE CARD MAKER is a canned data base with a competent editor for additions, deletions and corrections ad provides two formats.  The “Bibliography card” format has fields for code (aka topic) author, title, city/publisher/date, and call number. “Note Cards” has fields for code (aka topic) key words, page reference, and 12 lines of notes. It’s the perfect tool for kids to use the micro as a tool to organize their research as you can sort and find with decent performance. The printouts are acceptable, although there is no option for underiling – which may or may not drive the English teacher’s beserk. Four Stars.

     The best for last, in true WLN: Not the Bibliographic Utility style. Educalc teaches kids (down to 7^th grade in my experience) how to use spreadsheets. The sheet is only 26 columns by 99 rows with limited built in math functions but EC has an outstandin tutorial and series of help screens. As a SS junkie some protocols really bugged me, particullary  selecting the function before doing anything, but for those with no previous experience (perhaps whom the program was intended for) won’t die here.  There  are 20 “suggested applications”. This is five stars.

Back to the Slate

     In earlier issues I mentioned play with earlier versions of Magic Slate from Sunburst. I finished the final one with 80 column, and have no reservation in saying that it is the only word processor a school district should consider buying for an Apple instructional setting. As a management tool it’s also got some punch.

     They advertise this as the “word processor that grows with you” and I am comfortable in saying it also grows on you. There are three modes: 20, 40 and 80 column, with only the first two slightly crippled. The beauty is regardless of hardware – the 20 and 40 c versions run an old +’s and the 80 needs 80 column board you can start out and move up. The 20 c version has big letters for the rugrats to use and by the time  you get to 80c there are very refined procedures, especially in 128K that allow you to have two documents open at once.

     Sunburst also needs to be applauded because they grant you the right to boot it all the way around the room. That’s right, in your lab of fiteen you no longer need 15 copies to run legally: Sunburst says go ahead and do what you’ve been doing with all the rest of the stuff legally: we give you the right. This blows Idiot Street Writer, Homeword, and all the rest away.  Five stars.

            User’s Groups

     The Central Illinois Micro User’s Group is meeting sometime in October. Contact Randy or Lori at the Canton Public Library for details.

     During the annual meeting of the Iowa Library Association I am organizing a general Iowa Micro Using Librarians Group which will meet on the afternoon of Thursday, Oct 10.  I also plan to hold a meeting for any Iowa members of the Apple Library User’s Group during that time. Please give me a call at the State Library 515-281-4499 for further details.

     The Pacific Northwest Chapter of MLA has invited Gene Rodenberry to talk to them on Oct 30 in Eugene, OR. The subject is “Libraries in the Future” For more information contact Library Services, Sacred Heart General Hospital, PO Box 10905, Eugene, OR 97440

            Armed Warfare

      My friends in the military report that library use of micros is hindered by little things like base politics and rank. Deep Wing reports that a partaicular commander from the see you in town denied a request for anything to help with the backlog of cataloging while down the hall a 10 grand wp system sits replete with plastic covers and no use. If Ronnie’s gone pump up support for the military I wish he would spend a little to make military librarian’s lives easier. I’m used to pulling RAM not rank.

            DSR Move

       Bill Basham, who singlehandly gave the Apple world two of it’s most useful tools: Diversidos and Diversicopy, was railroaded out of Rockford IL (aka sick) because his wife ran a dance studio. If you have an Apple and you copy disks (not in the bid mode) you have to have Diversicopy and he’ll send it for $40 (also neat licences for schools. To find Bill these days try 34880 Bunker Hill, Farmington, MI 48018

            Library Bureau of Investigation

      Another one we missed in our ALA report was the Library Bureau of Investigation. It’s chief operative is Bob Skapura, who in an earlier life formed Library Software Co. with Joe Ward. Their string of hits (OverDue Writer, Bibliography Writer,  Circulation Plus and others) went to Follett Software in the recent acquisition reported in WLN: NOT THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC UTILITY.

     Skoops maintained some of the rights (don’t bother me with all of the legal mumbo) to Skills Maker, a dynamite tool for making library instruction exercises. It survives now as Elementary Skills Factory and is joined by Secondary Skills Factory.

      But beyound the software aspect, Bob has produced Guidelines. It ain’t electronic but it’s genius. It comes with a plastic card and a sample Reader’s Guide reference, and clearly broken out are expinations of he gibberish found within. When I first saw it was one of those Ford commercials: so simple but so usefull.

The Computer Coordinator

     Dave (aka guru) Mosrund at ICCE has put together a marvelous collection entitled The Computer Coordinator. A lot of the stuff is lifted from Computing Teacher, but I am sure that many of you faced the task I used to: you where the leading  illiterate in the building so they called on you to coordinate computer use. It has some interesting interviews, and for the $2.50 is well worth it. ICCE, Univ. of Oregon, 1787 Agate St., Eugene, OR 97403

            Be Youse Own Consultant (part one)

     I spend a good deal of time at work answering calls from librarians who want to use a micro for library management or who want to make one available for what is generically refered to as “Public Access”. I also g et the chance  to visit a lot of libraries, look them over, and make recommendations as to possible solutions to their situations. I thought it would be interesting to try and commit a lot of this to paper so that   A) you might be able to use some of it when you help other librarians get into the micro age B) you might be able to expand your own horizons C) keep people form buying $10,000 circ systems when they could do what they need with a simple data base. Be advised though that I view consultants as guys who get nine miles from home and then can’t figure out how to get there.

     The mentality starts with the concept of “good micro, good library”.  IN simple terms it has to be suited to a micro and follow standard library practice. The former is the killer, because no matter how much we ascribe to standard practice, many of us add a prefix to the call number to indicate the holding is a videotape or use Zambesie subject headings because we can’t live with LC. Good micro will save you all the time in this instance because it will allow you to change the way the program works to do the things your way.

     Identify what is killing you in the paper world. I am considered a heretic in may library automation circles because I comment freely that if you have a paper file that works use it. I don’t bow to the great god of library automation for the sake of kneeling towards Dublin six times a day (feel free to insert you own known location) I see computers, and micros in particular as a tool to do things for you that need done as well as doing things you don’t do well. My particular weaknesses, as long time readers will attest, in stereo, too, are alphabetization (including spelling) and numbers.

     There four basic tools at  your disposal. They are word processing, spreadsheet, data base, and library utility software. Each tool has common and specific characteristics. Your task it to identify the charactieristic that can be best used to solve your need.

      Word processors are used for text manipulation. What sort of things get typed in your library? Reports, policy manuals, and lists that pull out your vast holdings specific elements such as all of the great books you hold on the Faulklands. These have also been called bibliographies.

     Word processors are really neat in a library situation because so much of our work requires minimal fixes in a constant format. For example if your selection policy were done with a word processor when it came time to add  a section on micro software, you could call the old document up, insert whatever changes you needed and tell the computer to handle the retyping The same would hold true for deleting the section in the very same policy that dealt with 1 inch videotape recordings. The document for the most part stays the same, only pieces need to be added or removed.

     Word processors normally have the bset screen editors. With WP cursor control is at it’s height, moving, copying or deleting block is usually a snap. There are no fixed fields and limitations to the number of charachters you can use for a title and a great deal of flexibility in what the printouts will look like in paper . The price for all this flexibility is also appearant: word processors normally don’t sort (although they will allow you to find) and they have almost no number crumching ability. If  you type it, don’t require any number crunching and can permit the information to be presented in the manner it was presented the word processor will work fine.

The Mac Page

Only in the Wired Librarian’s Newsletter

Helix

We used to have a saying that the easier a program is to use, the less power it has. Helix breaks this tradition, in fact it blows it away. Helix is the first data base to take the Mac mentality to the max (although I could heartily argue for Filevision) and give you a crunch away power with a new kind of ease.

       Odesta made a mark on early with their fantastic games. I can remember trying like mad to reset the Checkers parameters so that I could win. They’ve mixed with this control somewhat of a different db concept: fields are important and you use the Mac to mix them, stir up you own cup of tea as it were.

     You start with a series of Icons held together with a relation icon. Within this relation their abacus (math), template, selection index and querry icons.  You build a template by arranging fields (how did I ever survive the row/column mentality compared to the ease of clicking / dragging?) to come up with a screen form. Querry is what the rest of the world know as record search criteria and you can indicate fields for faster reference by indexing them. Mix these three together and you get a selection, and each base can have a series of selections.

     I can almost understand the abacus function. A series of tiles with arrows are connected together with arithmetic operators and others (52 in all if I can count that high) and the math happens. What we used to call computed fields are supported.

     There are some limitations; nowhere in the manual could I find the limit to data file sizes. Also the program is 260K so Switcher enthusiasts (more on this later) will have some limits. It just won’t live on a slim Mac and I wouldn’t use it without two drives (and serious users would want a hard drive).

     The manual is excellent and includes a cassette tape to get you into the Helix world. Report generation is easy, and I was impressed with the number of page formats included in the program. Mail merge details are laid out although I did not try them. It’s definitely a data base for the rest of us – for a long time.

            From Other Worlds

An Index to the Online Issues

1983 - When there were four microcomputers at the ALA show

December 1984

1985 - wow we've got hard drives !!!